Forget May 16, market-savvy politicos already winners as scrips up

The outcome of their performance will only be known on May 16 but scores of 16th Lok Sabha aspirants are already winners as they are sitting on hefty returns courtesy their investments in blue-chip stocks with Indian stock market surging to a new high.

The Indian stock markets are on a roll with the benchmark Sensex within sniffing distance of 23,000 mark as investors, including foreign institutions, have bet big on a stable government coming to power when poll results are announced.

Shares of blue-chip firms like Reliance Industries, Reliance Power and TCS appear to be favourite among the rich and the powerful.

NCP supremo Sharad Pawar's daughter and Baramati sitting MP Supriya Sule has stock portfolio worth Rs 5.6 crore that is spread across over 80 companies including United Breweries, Adani Enterprises, Coal India, Britannia, DLF, Hindustan Unilever, Kingfisher Airlines and Ranbaxy. Her husband, Sadanand has holdings in shares of nearly 100 firms.

Film actor and BJP's Ahmedabad East candidate Paresh Rawal has Rs 1.37 crore in listed stocks. He has Reliance Industries shares worth Rs 45 lakh, Tata Steel scrips worth Rs 20 lakh besides small holdings in TCS, among others.

Rawal's wife, Swaroop, has a Rs 43 lakh portfolio with the biggest holding being of Mahindra & Mahindra shares.

Part of Congress youth brigade, Milind Deora's wife Poonam, holds shares in nine listed companies, including Dishman Pharma, Mukta Arts, NIIT, Oberoi Realty and Adlabs Films.

While Congress leader Jyotiraditya Scindia, a Stanford MBA, does not directly hold shares in any listed firm, his affidavit mentions that his daughter Ananya Raje holds stocks in several firms like CESC, CMC, Greaves Cotton, Hikal, JB Chemicals, RPG Lifesciences, Sintex and Zensar Tech. Her total listed stock portfolio is worth over Rs 8 lakh.

Mumbai North Central BJP candidate Poonam Mahajan's husband Vajendla has modest holdings in Reliance Industries, Indiabulls Power, Kingfisher Airlines, TCS, Reliance Power and Idea Cellular, among others. Poonam mostly holds shares in unlisted entities.

The past three months have seen shares like RIL (up 22%), M&M (23 pc), NIIT (28 pc) and CESC (14 pc) log steady returns. RPG Lifesciences has shot up by over 50%. Indiabulls Power, Edelweiss, Reliance Power, HDFC Bank and GMR Infra have risen in 10-30% range.

Another Mumbaikar, Gurudas Kamat, who is eyeing a Lok Sabha seat from Mumbai North-West, and his spouse have share holdings in Edelweiss Financial Services, Facor Alloys, Religare Enterprises and Rishi Laser.